Combination adjustable belt tightener, fuel pump and air pump for internal combustion engines



Dec. 10, 1968 w. CVWAGNER 3,415,238

COMBINATION ADJUSTABLE BELT TIGHTENER, FUEL PUMP AND AIR PUMP FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed Aug. 4, 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet l FIG.4

I8 27 X m V/A W2 37 1 j 5 3 30 3,4 la [2O 35 \IO 50 27 l8 FIGJ INVENTOR. WILLIAM C. WAGNER ATTOR N E Y Dec. 10, 1968 w. c. WAGNER' COMBINATION ADJUSTABLE BELT TIGHTENER, FUEL PUMP AND AIR PUMP FOR INTERNAL comsuswxou ENGINES 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Au 4, 1967 .9 E mm EA VW N IC ATTORNEY Dec. 10, 968 w. c. WAGNER 3,415,238

COMBINATION ADJUSTABLE BELT TIGHTENER, FUEL PUMP AND AIR PUMP FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Aug. 4, 1967 INVENTOR. WILLIAM C. WAGNER ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,415,238 COMBINATION ADJUSTABLE BELT TIGHTENER, FUEL PUMP AND AIR PUMP FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES William C. Wagner, 47 Jamaica Ave.,

. Plainview, N.Y. 11803 Filed Aug. 4, 1967, Ser. No. 658,573 6 Claims. (Cl. 123-195) j ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Referring briefly to the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary schematic representation in front elevation of an automotive engine, illustrating how the device of the present invention may be applied thereto.

- FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the complete unitary device per se, as seen looking down upon the device from the front.

FIG. 3 is a rear elevational view of the device per se, with the fuel pump shown in phantom and with the rear cover or wall removed.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 44 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary reduced sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 1, with the fan belt omitted, showing the position of the mounting device relative to the cooling fan.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the numeral indicates the unitary device or member as a whole. The front end of an internal combustion engine, more particularly an automotive engine, is shown fragmentarily and largely schematically at 11. The motor shaft is indicated at .12 and has a pulley 13 fixed thereon, while the cooling fan shaft is shown at 14 with a pulley 15 fixed thereon; the fan is not shown. At 16 is shown a shaft provided with a pulley 17 fixed thereon. The shaft 16 may be the drive shaft of a generator, or of a compressor for air brakes, or of any other auxiliary rotatable device. The device 10 includes a pulley 18 on the front side thereof. A belt 50 is shown trained about the four pulleys 13, 15, 18 and 17. The pulley 18 is fixed on a shaft 19.

The housing 20 of the device 10 is defined by front and rear walls 21 and 22, respectively, top wall 23, end walls 24 and 25, and bottom wall 26. For economy of mate rial, the end wall 25 is curved substantially as shown to blend with the top wall 23 and the bottom wall 26.

An elongated arm or fiat plate 27 is rigidly secured, in any desire-d manner, against the front wall 21 and has an extension portion 27a extending a substantial distance beyond the end wall 25. Near its outer end the plate 27 is provided with a pivot hole 28 and adjacent thereto and concentric therewith is an arcuate slot 29.

The shaft 19 of the pulley 18 extends rotatably through the wall 21 and the plate 27. If desired, a portion of the plate around the shaft 19 may be cut away, not shown. A second bearing support is preferably provided, within the housing preferably, for the shaft 19 (and for the shaft 30, described below), in any desired manner; for example, in the form of a wall 31 extending upward from the floor 26.

a A second shaft 30 is shown rotatably mounted in the wall 21 and also in the wall 31. A gear 32 is rigid on the shaft 19 and a relatively larger gear 33 is rigid on the shaft 30; these gears are mutually in mesh. The shaft 30 has a cam 34 on one side of the gear 33, positioned in alignment with a passage 35 through the end wall 24. A fuel pump 36 of standard construction, which is actuated by a rocker arm 37, is attached to the end wall 24 with its rocker arm 37 passing through the passage 35 and in engagement with the cam 34. Thus rotation of the shaft 30 actuates the fuel pump.

A piston operated air pump 38 is shown mounted on the top of the wall 23 around an opening 39, with the axis of the pump at right angles to the axis of the shaft 30. The piston rod 40 of the air pump is reciprocated in the usual manner by the gear 33 through the medium of a connecting rod or link 41 pivoted to the gear on an eccentric pin 42.

The device 10 is pivotally secured to the front of the engine 11 by means of a screw 43 passing through the hole 28 into a complementary threaded hole, not shown, in the engine wall. A second threaded hole, not shown, is provided in the engine wall at a distance outward (to the right, FIG. 1) from the first such hole such that a screw 44 passed through the slot 29 may register therein. It is thus apparent that the entire device 10 may be swung upward or downward on the pivot screw 43 within the range of the slot 29, and'that it may be locked in any position within that range by tightening the screw 44.

It is also now apparent that, with the device 10 mounted, for example, in the position thereof shown in FIG. 1 with the pulley 18 engaged by the belt 50, the fuel pump 36 and the air pump 38 will be actuated simultaneously.

The device 10 obviously serves as a belt tightener, for the belt 50. The present invention puts an ordinarily idling pulley to novel practical and desirable use. The device may be applied as a combination belt tightener and fuel pump actuator, with or without the air pump and its linkage to the gear 33. The air delivered by the air pump may be put to any desired use; for example, to operate windshield wipers or to supply fresh air into the engine exhaust for more complete combustion of the fuel mixture. It is also to be noted that the rate of pumping fuel to the engine may be adjusted by adjusting the tension on the belt 50 applied by the pulley 19, and that the faster the engine runsthe more fuel will be pumped into the carburetor. This, is important for such automotive trucks and tractor-trailer vehicles which are at present largely equipped with electric fuel pumps, where fuel supply frequently fails to keep up with engine speed and hence fuel demand, in low gear.

FIG. 5 illustrates the positioning of the device directly behind the cooling fan 51 attached to the shaft 14, at the front of the engine. Such positioning of the device is ad-, vantageous in that fresh outside air is available for the air pump and the same air cools the fuel pump.

While the invention has been described with particular reference to the constructions shown in the drawings, such is not to be construed as a limitation upon the invention which is best defined in the appended claims, since obviously modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. In combination with an internal combustion engine and a belt driven by the shaft of the engine and trained about the pulley of a rotatable auxiliary device, means for adjusting the tension of said belt consisting of an arm having one end pivotally attached to the engine substantially in the plane of said belt and provided with an idler pulley positioned in said plane, said idler pulley having said belt trained thereover, means for releasably locking said arm to said engine in any one of a plurality of pivoted positions whereby the tension of the belt is altered, said arm having a housing secured thereto, a first shaft having said idler pulley thereon and extending into said housing,

a second shaft parallel with said first shaft rotatably mounted in said housing, a gear on said first shaft and a gear on said second shaft, said gears being in mesh, said second shaft having a cam thereon, a fuel pump attached to said housing and including a rocker arm for actuating the same, said rocker arm extending into said housing at right angles to said second shaft in the plane of said cam and engaging said cam.

2. A combination according to claim 1, said housing having a piston operated air pump mounted thereon above said second shaft, and means connecting the piston of said air pump with said gear on said second shaft for reciprocation of said piston.

3. In combination with an internal combustion engine having a fan belt driven by the engine and an auxiliary rotatable device provided with a pulley, said belt being trained about said pulley, a device consisting of an elongated plate having a hole therethrough at one end thereof and having an arcuate slot therein spaced from and concentric with said hole, a screw passing through said hole into a wall of said engine thereby pivotally securing said 1 plate to the engine, a housing secured to said plate and spaced from said one end thereof, said housing including end walls and a top wall and having two spaced shafts rotatably mounted therein at right angles to said plate,

each of said shafts having a gear rigid thereon within the housing, said gears being in mesh, one of said shafts extending through the housing and having a pulley rigid thereon outside the housing, a second screw passing through said slot into said wall of the engine for releasably locking said plate to the engine, the other of said shafts having a cam thereon, said housing having a passage through one of said end walls thereof adjacent said other of said shafts, a fuel pump mounted on said one of said end walls and having a rocker arm for actuating the same extending through said passage into said housing and en- 4 gaging said cam, said belt being trained about said lastnamed pulley.

4. A combination according to claim 3, said top wall of the housing having a circular opening therethrough whose axis is positioned at right angles to the axis of said other of said shafts, a piston operated air pump mounted on said top wall around said circular opening, and a connecting rod pivoted at one end to the piston of said air pump and at the other end thereof to that one of said gears which is rigid on said other of said shafts.

5. In combination with an internal combustion engine including a belt driven by the engine, an auxiliary rotatable device provided with a pulley for rotating the same, said belt being trained about said pulley, a member pivotally secured to said enginesubstantially in the plane of the belt, means for releasably locking said member in a plurality of pivoted positions, said member having a belt tightener pulley thereon positioned in said plane and having said belt trained thereabout, a fuel pump attached to said member and having a rocker arm for actuation thereof, and means interposed between said belt tightener pulley and said rocker arm for actuation of said rocker arm upon rotation of said belt tightener pulley.

6. A combination according to claim 5, having a piston operated air pump attached to said member, and means interposed between said last-named means and the piston of said air pump for reciprocation of said piston simultaneously with actuation of said rocker arm.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,040,980 10/ 12 Haney.

1,672,191 6/28 Anderson et al. 123-195 2,010,056 8/35 Brush 123-195 XR 2,186,290 1/40 Gordon et al.

2,792,820 5/57 Leach 123-195 3,338,229 8/67 De Lorean et al. 123-195 FRED C. MATTERN, JR., Primary Examiner.

I. A. WONG, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 

